Fabric drier



pril 21, i935. G VENTURlNl 2,938,457

FABRIC DRIER Filed De. 23, 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 2 J @gig 5 5 w F 5 T Inu1u nun lul f6 l1 unl HHH un lling, @6,

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FABRIC DRIER Filed Dec. 25, 1932 2 sheets-sheet 2 n y 4r- ATTORNEYPatented Apr. 21, 1936 PATENT OFFICE;

FABRIC DRIER George Venturini, Carlstadt, N. J.

Application December 23, 1932, Serial No. 648,672

4 Claims.

The present invention relates to improvements in driers, and moreespecially to those of the class adapted to be employed for the dryingof long or continuous strips of textile fabrics, such as silk, cloth andthe like, during the course of manufacture or treatment thereof, as forexample, after such fabrics have been dyed by any usual or knownprocess.

One of the primary objects of the invention is to provide a novel andimproved drier of this general class which is capable of drying thefabric effectively and uniformly without the necessity of forming thefabric into a number of loops as heretofore practised, the improveddrier being smaller and more compact than such looping driers, and

the improved drier may be attached to a silk, cloth or other fabricfinishing machine and thus enable the` operations of drying andfinishing to be combined into one operation or process.

Another object is to provide a drier of this class which is capable ofoperating on a single strip of fabric or of operating simultaneouslyupon a plurality of strips of fabric.

Another object is to provide a drier of this class whereby heated air ordrying medium is forced through the strip of fabric successively andalternately from opposite sides thereof while the moisture-laden fabricadvances, thereby thoroughly and rapidly removing the moisture therefromso that the fabric will be completely and uniformly dried by its passagethrough the drier.

Another object is to provide, in a drier of the class stated, meanswhereby the width of the outlets for the dischargeof the heated airor-drying medium upon the fabric may be varied to conform with strips offabric of different widths, thus avoiding waste of heated air or dryingmedium in the treatment of relatively narrow fabrics kand enablingfabrics of great Variations in width to be dried effectively andeconomically.

A further object of the invention is to provide a combination drier ofthis class which may operate either by electric or steam heat, or byboth, and which, in any case, is capable of effecting a rapid andthorough drying of the fabric.

To these and other ends, the invention consists in certain improvementsand combinations and arrangements of parts all as will be hereinaftermore fully described, the features of novelty being pointed outparticularly in the claims at the end of this specication.

In the accompanying drawingszm Fig. l is a Vertical section takenlongitudinally 'through a drier constructed in accordance with thepresent invention;

Fig. 2 is a horizontal section taken through the machine on the line2--2 in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an end elevation of the drier as viewed from the left in Fig.1;

Fig. 4 is a vertical section taken on the line 4-4 5 in Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a detail perspective View showing portions of the air chambersand the outlets and receiving channels thereof;

Fig. 6 is a perspective view showing a portion 10 of one of the airchambers and of the outlets thereof, together with reducers fitted intothe outlets to vary the width of the discharge openings therein and alsoshowing electrical heaters for the reducers; and l5 Fig. 7 is aperspective view showing in section an end of one of the reducers.

Similar parts are designated by the same reference characters in thedifferent figures.

The improved drier, in its preferred form and as shown in the presentinstance, comprises a suitable frame, composed preferably of sidemembers I and 2 having upper and lower chambers 3 and 4 mounted betweenthem. These chambers, which may be of any suitable length and arepreferably of a width equal to that of the widest fabric to be dried,are located one above the other between the frame members I and 2. andin the preferred construction, the upper chamber 3 is bolted, vwelded orotherwise xed in 30 stationary position between said frame members,while the lower chamber 4 is movable vertically between said framemembers so that it may be raised and lowered or adjusted vertically withrespect to the upper chamber, the lower chamber being, for example,slidable vertically between the frame members I and 2 and thus guidedlaterally, and'having plates 5 fixed to its ends and embracing the framemembers I and 2 and thus preventing displacement of this lower cham- 40ber in a direction longitudinally of the frame.

The chambers 3 and 4 are closed but the bottom 6 of the upper chamberand the top 'l of the lower chamber are provided with outlets throughwhich heated'air or other drying medium from 45 the chambers is forcedagainst and through a. stripof fabric extending longitudinally betweenthe outlets. As shown in the present instance, the bottom 6 of the upperchamber is formed, at intervals in its length, with depending walls orflanges 8 which extend throughout the width of the upper chamber but areclosed at the sides thereof by the side walls of such chamber, theelongated passageway formed between each pair of fianges being open atthe bottom to form an outlet which communicates with the interior ofthis chamber. The outlets thus formed in a row extending longitudinallyat the under side of the chamber 3 have intervening channels 9 which areopen at the bottoms thereof and also at the ends thereof so that air orother heating medium received by these channels will be dischargedfreely at the sides of the chamber 3. The channels 9 intervening theoutlets between the flanges 3 are preferably of equal dimensions as saidoutlets, measured in a direction longitudinally of the chamber 3. Thetop or upper wall 'I of the lower chamber 4 is similarly provided withpairs of flanges I0 which project upwardly therefrom and extendthroughout the width of the lower chamber 4, these flanges formingpassageways between them which are open at their tops to constituteoutlets which communicate with the lower chamber 4, these passagewaysbeing closed at the sides of the chamber 4 by the side walls thereof,and the row of outlets thus provided and spaced longitudinally on theupper side of the chamber 4 have receiving channels I I interposedbetween them, these receiving channels extending the full width of thechamber 4 and being open at the sides thereof so that they may freelydischarge air or other heating medium received by them. These receivingchannelsV II are preferably of the same dimension as that of the outletswhich they intervene, measured in a direction longitudinally of thechamber 4.

The outlets provided between the flanges 8 of the upper chamber 3 andthe outlets formed between the flanges IU of the lower chamber 4 areoifset or staggered in relation to one another, so that the outlets ofthe upper chamber will be positioned opposite to the receiving channelsI! of the chamber 4 and the outlets of the latter chamber will beopposite to the receiving channels 9 of the upper chamber 3.

Suitable means is provided for supporting the lower chamber 4 so that astrip of fabric a to be dried may extend longitudinally between the rowsofoutlets of the upper and lower chambers, such means as shown in thepresent instance comprising a pair of toggles I2 and I3 the links ofwhich are pivotally connected to cross members I4 and I5 of the frameand to the under side of the lower chamber 4 near its ends, the middlepivots I6 and I'I of these toggles being operatively connected by linksI8 and I9 to the ends of a cross arm 2D which is xed on a crank vshaft2| so that its ends project at opposite sides 'ing a crank 23 by meansof which it may be rotated, this crank being hollow and having a pin 23amovable axially therein so that it may engage one or another of a seriesof locking apertures 22a in the adjacent bearing 22 when the lowerchamber is raised to an operative position. By this arrangement,rotation of the crank 23 in one direction will bring the cross arm 23 onthe shaft 2| toward or into alinement with the links I8 and I9 and thelatter, acting on the toggles, will act to straighten them, the togglesthen acting on the lower chamber 4 to lift it into operative relationwith the upper chamber 3 and supporting the chamber 4 in such position,and engagement of the pin 23a in the appropriate hole 22a will lock thelower chamber in adjusted operative position, and rotation of the crank23 in the opposite direction, while the locking pin 23a is withdrawn,will cause the cross arm 2U to move the links I8 and I 9 in the oppositedirection and thereby flex the toggles and lower the chamber 4 from itsoperative position, it then resting on suitable brackets 5EL xed to thecorners of the frame. When the chamber 4 is in its raised or operativeposition, the upper edges of the flanges I0 which define the outlets ofthe chamber 4 will all lie in the same plane with the lower edges of theflanges 8 which dene the outlets of the upper chamber 3, orsubstantially so, so that a passageway is formed between the rows ofoutlets of the upper and lower chambers through which the strip offabric a may be stretched and may travel longitudinally. This strip offabric may be guided to travel between the rows of outlets of the upperand lower chambers by rollers 24 and 25 which may be journalled insuitable brackets on the respective ends of the frame members I and 2,the fabric in its moist condition being received by the roller 25 from asuitable guide roller 26 and the roller 24 delivering the dried fabricto a suitable draw roller 2I.

In order to vary the width o-f the outlets to conform with the varyingwidths of fabrics to be dried, each outlet is adapted to receive areducer 28, each reducer comprising a box-like casing which is open atits inner side or the side thereof toward the respective chamber and isprovided in its opposite side with an outlet opening 29. The outletopenings 29 in all the reducers used at any one time for the drying of afabric of a given width are of the same lateral length or dimension toconform with the width of such fabric, the reducers of one set beinginterchangeable with other sets of reducers having respectively outletopenings of different lengths or lateral extents to conform with fabricsof different widths. By using such reducers in the outlets of the upperand lower chambers, the outlet openings through which the heated air orother drying medium is discharged is confined to the width of theparticular fabric being dried, thereby insuring greater efficiency inthe drying operation and avoiding loss of heated air or drying medium.These reducers will be held in operative position within the respectiveoutlets by frictional engagement of their walls with the flanges 8 andI0 which form the outlets. Each of the reducers, as shown in the presentinstance, is provided with electrical heating units 30 of a suitablenumber, three being shown in the present instance, and these heatingunits, which may be composed of resistance wire as commonly used inelectrical heaters, are of a length corresponding substantially with thelength or lateral dimension of the respective outlet opening 29, itbeing understood that reducers having relatively short outlet openings29 will employ correspondingly short heating units while reducers havinglong outlet openings will be provided with correspondingly long heatingunits. These heating units may be supported within the respectivereducer by insulators 3I attached to the respective end walls thereof,electrical energy being sup-plied to the heating units by conductors 32and 33 connected to the respective ends thereof. Preferably, the heatingunits in each reducer are separate or independent of one another and theconductors are individual thereto, and these conductors are connectedindividually to separate electrical feed wires 34 which may be providedwith switch means 35 by means of which electrical current may besupplied to either one heating element of each reducer, as whenrelatively Flets of the respective chambers.

low heat is required, or to two of the heating elements of each reducer,as when medium heat is required, or to all three of the heating elementsof the reducers when relatively high heat is required. In order toenable the reducers to be readily removed from the outlets of therespective chambers and replaced by others having outlet openings of adifferent size for the drying of a fabric of a different width, thecurrent supply conductors 33 of the reducers are provided withdetachable plug connections 36 for connecting them to the feed wires 34,and the conductors 32 may have similar detachable plug connections 31for connecting them to the return wires 38. Fig. 4 shows one o-f thereducers having an outlet' opening of substantially the full width ofthe outlet of the lower chamber and heating elements of a lengthcorresponding to such length of outlet opening, while Fig. 6 showsreducers having outlet openings of reduced size to be used in the dryingof a relatively narrower fabric, and heat- .ing elements ofcorrespondingly reduced length.

The electrical heating elements in the reducers tted into the outlets ofthe chambers 3 and 4 will heat air supplied to the outlets from therespective chambers 3 and 4, but each of the chambers 3 and 4 isprovided with a steam coil 39 or 4B adapted to receive steam from asuitable source, these steam coils acting to heat air contained in therespective chambers prior to its discharge therefrom through therespective outlets. 'Ihe electrical heating elements in the outlets maythus be used alone, or the steam coils 39 and 49 may be used alone, orboth of such electrical heating elements and the steam coils may be usedconjointly. Air is forced into the chambers 3 and 4 by a suitable numberof blowers, the chamber 3 being shown provided with a pair ofelectrically driven air'blowers 4I which receive air from the atmosphereand force it into the respective end -of said chamber above the steamcoil 39 and the lower chamber 4 being shown provided with a pair ofelectrically driven air blowers 42 which also receive air from theatmosphere and force it into the respective endsof said chamber belowthe steam coil 48 therein. The air thus forced into the respectivechambers ows past the steam heated coils 39 and 40 respectively and thusbecomes heated, and such heated air is discharged from these chambersthrough the respective outlets or reducers.

In some instances, it may be desirable to simultaneously dry twodifferent strips of fabric, and to enable this to be accomplished, theupper chamber 3 is provided at its ends with slots 43 below the steamcoil 39 therein and above the outlets in the bottom of suchchamber, andthe chamber 4 is provided at its ends with slots 44 located below theoutlets in the top of this chamber and above the steam heating coil 40therein.

Guide rollers 45 and 46 are mounted on the frame in positions to guide astrip of fabric b so that it will travel in the space between the steamheating coil 39 in the chamber 3 and the outlets in the bottom of thischamber, and other rollers 41 and 48 are mounted on the frame of themachine to guide another strip of fabric c so that it will travel in apath beneath the outlets in the top of the chamber 4 and above the steamheating coil 40 in such chamber, these strips of fabric being thus inthe path of the heated air owing from the steam heating coils to theout- The moist strip of fabric b may be guidedto the roller 46 by aguide roller 49 and this strip, after being dried,

may be delivered by the roller 45 to a suitable draw roller 50, andsimilar guide rollers may be provided for directing a strip of fabric cto the guide roller 48 and for receiving this strip from the roller 41.The guide rollers by which the strip or strips of fabric to be dried aredirected into the drier may be located to receive such fabric stripsdirectly from a silk or cloth finishing machine, thus enabling thefinishing and drying of the fabric to be accomplished by a singleoperation. When a single fabric strip a only is being dried by passingit between the outlets of the chambers, the slots 43 and 44 may beclosed or sealed in any suitable way to avoid escape o-f airtherethrough, as by sealing plates one of which is shown in Fig. 5, eachof these plates |00 being removably held in position to cover therespective slot by thumb-screws IDI and lugs |92 rotatable thereon so asto overlie the plate and clamp it in slot closing position.

The operation of the improved drier constructed as herein shown anddescribed is as follows:

Assuming a single strip or line of silk, cloth or other textile fabric ais to be dried, such fabric strip is passed from a silk or clothfinishing machine or from any other source over the roller 2S and underthe roller 25 and then extended longitudinally between the rows ofoutlets of the upper and lower chambers 3 and 4, thence under the roller24 and over the take-off roller 21. The threading of the strip of fabricbetween the chambers is facilitated by operating the crank 23 to flexthe toggles I2 and I3 into the dotted line positions shownn Fig. l, thelower chamber 4 being thereby lowered to separate the outlets of thischamber from those of the upper chamber sufciently to enable an operatorto reach between the chambers and thereby thread the fabric striptherebetween, and after threading of the fabric strip between theoutlets of the chamber, the crank 23 is operated tostraighten thetoggles I2 and I3, as shown by the full lines in Fig. 1, thereby raisingthe lower chamber 4 and bringing the upper edges of the row of outletsthereon into contact or close relation with the under side of the stripof fabric, the upper side of this strip of fabric contacting with orlying in close relation with the lower edges of the row of outlets atthe bottom of the upper chamber 3. The vertical dimension of thepassageway'formed between the outlets of the upper and lower chambersand through which the strip of fabric passes may be adjusted or variedto insure contact of the surrounding edges of the outlets with the upperand lower sides of the fabric, notwithstanding different thicknessesthereof, by adjusting the toggles I2 and I3 by the crank 23 to bring thelower chamber 4 to the proper height to accomplish this result, andengaging the locking pin 23a in the appropriate aperture 22a. Alsoassuming that one, two or all three of the electric heating elements 30contained in the reducers 28 in the outlets of the upper and lowerchambers are supplied with electric current through the feed wires 34and 38, depending upon the degree of heating effect desired, or thatsteam is supplied to the steam heating coils 39 and 40 contained withinthe chambers 3 and 4, or that both the electric heating elements and thesteam heating coils are put into operation, the strip4 of fabric a isadvanced longitudinally between the outlets of theV upper and lowerchambers, the take-oir roller 21 for example serving to draw the fabricstrip continuously through the drier, for which purpose the take-offroller 21 may be belted to and driven from an electric motor 5|. Duringthe operation of the drier, the air blowers 4I and 42 are also inoperation, they taking air from the atmosphere and forcing it into therespective chambers 3 and 4, this air being heated by passing the steamheated coils 39 and 40, if such are in operation, and by passing theelectric heating elements 3l] carried by the reducers contained in theoutlets of the upper and lower chambers. The air thus forced by theseblowers through the outlets and the reducers therein of the upper andlower chambers, is forced through the strip of moisture-laden fabrictravelling longitudinally between them, the currents of heated air fromthe outlets 8 of the upper chamber 3 being forced downwardly through thestrip o-f fabric from the upper side thereof into the air receivingchannels Il at the upper side of the lower chamber 4 and the currents ofair from the outlets IB of the lower chamber being forced upwardlythrough the strip of fabric from its under side and into the airreceiving channels 9 at the under side of the upper chamber 3, the airafter thus passing through the fabric and entering the receivingchannels 9 and H discharging freely at the ends o-f these channels whichare open at the sides of the chambers 3 and 4. The alternating orstaggered relationship of the outlets of the upper and lower chamberscauses the heated air currents therefrom to pass alternately in oppositedirections thro-ugh the strip of fabric at intervals in its length, andthe travelling movement of the fabric strip causes the direction of offlow of the air currents therethrough to be successively reversed, itbeing noted that each portion of the fabric strip as it passes beneathan outlet of the upper chamber will flow downwardly therethrough and theadvancing movement of the fabric strip will bring such portion thereofabove the next adjacent outlet of the lower chamber, thereby causing theheated air current therefrom to ilow upwardly through such portion ofthe fa'bric strip, this alternating and reversing direction of flow ofthe air currents through the moisture-laden fabric strip at it travelsthrough the drier effecting rapid, uniform and complete drying thereof,so that the fabric strip will be completely dried when it leaves thedrier.

When it is desired to simultaneously dry two strips of fabric, such asthe strips b and c, the fabric strip b is passed under the guide roller46, through the slots 43 in the ends of the upper chamber 3, beneath theguide roller l5 and over the take-off roller 5i) which may also bedriven from the motor 5l, and the fabric strip c is passed beneath theguide roller 48, through the slots 44 in the lower chamber and beneaththe guide roller 4l and may be withdrawn from the drier by any suitabletake-off means, such for example as that employed for the strip b. Indrying fabric strips passed through the drier in this manner, theelectric heating elements in the outlets of the Lipper and lowerchambers are not put into operation but steam is supplied to the steamcoils 39 and 4Q, and the air blowers 4| and 42, which are operatedduring the drying of such strips, force air past the steam coils 39 and4i! and past the portions of the fabric strips b and c which extendadjacent thereto, before the air is discharged from the chambers 3 and 4through the outlets therein. Y

The present invention provides an improved drier and drying processwhereby a strip of moisture-laden .abric may be rapidly, uniformly andthoroughly dried without the necessity of forming a long length of thefabric into loops in a drying chamber, as has been heretofore practised,the forcing of the heated air currents or drying medium through thefabric alternately from its opposite sides at intervals in its lengthduring the longitudinal travel of the fabric strip removing the moisturefrom the strip very rapidly and effectively and during the travel of thestrip through the drier, and this novel construction and process enablethe drier to be very compact so'that it occupies very little floor spaceas compared with the looper type of drier.

The provision of electrical heating means and steam heating means forthe air or drying medium enables the drier to be operated either blyelectrical Iheating means or by steam heating means or by a combinationof both electrical and steam heating means, and as described, the driermay be operated to dry either a single fabric strip or to simultaneouslydry a plurality of such strips.

By providing interchangeable sets of reducers for the outlets of theupper and lower chambers, the different sets of reducers having outletopenings of different lengths corresponding with different widths offabrics to be dried, high efciency in the drying operation and economyin the use of heated air are attained since, by selecting the properreducers according to the width of the farbic to be dried, the outletopenings in the reducers will be covered by the width of the fabric,thus insuring the forcing of all of the heated air through the fabricstrip and avoiding loss of heated air at the longitudinal edges of thefabric strip.

The drier may be constructed relatively inexpensively, it beingpreferably constructed of metal, the air chambers 3 and 4 and theoutlets thereof and also the reducers being preferably made of sheetmetal.

I claim as my invention:

1. A drier comprising a pair of chambers having rows of spaced outlets,the outlets o-f one row being offset in relation to those of the otherrow, said rows of outlets providing a passageway between them for astrip of material to be dried, toggles supporting one of said chambers,and means for operating said toggles to raise or lower the chambersupported by them relatively to the other chamber.

2. A drier comprising a row of outlets having orifices located in acommon plane for the discharge of a drying medium therefrom, each ofsaid outlets embodying parallel walls forming an elongated passageway,means for advancing a strip of fabric in said plane past the orifices ofsaid outlets, and a casing removably tted within and conforming in shapewith the parallel walls of said passageway of each outlet and having anoutlet opening of less length than the orifice thereof but lying in thesame plane therewith.

3. A drier comprising a row of outlets for the discharge of a dryingmedium therefrom, each of said outlets embodying walls forming anelongated passageway, a casing removably fitted within the walls of saidpassageway and having an outlet opening of less length than saidpassageway, and heating elements in said casing of a lengthcorresponding to the length of the outlet opening therein.

4. A drier comprising a pair of elongated chambers having rows ofoutlets in a longitudinal wall thereof, the outlets of` each row havingreceiving passages between them which discharge exteriorly of saidchambers, and the outlets of one row being opposite to the receivingpassages of the other row, the outlets of said rows having orices lyingin approximately a common plane for the travel of a fabric strip pastthem and between the rows of outlets, heating means in each chamberextending Iparallel to the wall thereof having the outlets therein, andmeans for forcing a drying medium into 4.opposite ends of each of saidchambers along the respective heatin g means therein and through therespective rows of outlets to act on a fabric strip travelling 5 betweenthe outlets.v

GEORGE VENTURINI.

